What is Resilience, and Why Do We Cultivate It?

This concept of resilience is incredibly useful in the scope of changing our relationship with alcohol. In many ways, alcohol may have weakened our resilience; instead of using our inner strength to handle a challenge, disappointment, or trauma, perhaps we used alcohol, instead. Perhaps we didn’t get back up, but sat down and drank a bottle. Maybe we’ve gotten used to this one companion getting us through a hard time, instead of our inner resilience and ability to rise above. But when we start cultivating our resilience, we can decrease our need to rely on that old friend, alcohol, to get us through.

The simple act of surviving a craving without using alcohol is a huge resilience builder. It’s never as awful as the first one—every time you beat that urge to drink without drinking, you’re adding a few notches to your belt on the journey of changing your relationship with alcohol. You show your brain that you can and do overcome, which builds your self-esteem and self-efficacy. This cycle continues; when the next craving comes, your brain already knows that it’s not going to kill you.

Over the next few days, we’ll dive into the why and how of resilience, giving you tools and resources to build your own resilience and become a pro at bouncing back. Until then, consider a time when you showed resilience and rose up after a challenge—how did you manage that? What tools (or people, or thoughts) did you use to overcome?